Utility companies typically rely on meter reading to determine consumption of a utility by its customers. In some utility meter reading applications, operators drive vehicles equipped with radio-equipped data collection units around an area or route to read electric, gas, and/or water meters. The meters are equipped with modules that allow them to send and receive signals. This style of meter reading, sometimes referred to as mobile AMR (automatic meter reading), allows meter reading to be completed without direct access to the meter.
Mobile AMR is sometimes used in saturated areas where there may be large populations of meters, difficult-to-access meters, or hazardous-to-read meters. When used in such areas, mobile AMR can dramatically improve meter reading efficiency. For example, a single data command unit transceiver reads an average of 10–12,000 meters in an eight-hour shift, and can read up to 24,000 meters per day, depending on meter density and system use. A portable DataPac® (Itron, Inc. of Spokane, Wash.) reads an average of 4,000 to 5,000 meters per day.
Routes for mobile AMR are typically defined geographically and may include hundreds or thousands of meters. Typically, in cases where meters are equipped with features that allow for point-to-point communication, each meter (or endpoint) in the route is read in turn (sequentially). To determine the order in which endpoints in the route are read, mobile AMR systems rely on sequential lists that identify each endpoint using a unique address assigned to the endpoint. The sequential list is formulated in advance and based on the geographic location of each endpoint relative to other endpoints in the route. For example, a mobile AMR route may have starting and ending points, and endpoints are read according to proximity from a vehicle moving between the starting and ending points. When using this technique, the data collection unit installed on the vehicle must know each endpoint address in its route. During the sequential reading of endpoints on a route, the driver typically relies on a visual display of addresses to determine if an endpoint has been successfully read. Such lists can be lengthy if the route contains many endpoints. If a reading fails with respect to any given endpoint, the operator aboard the vehicle will typically initiate a reread of the endpoint by providing its address.
Where meters are read using non-point-to-point techniques, such as with conventional “wake-up” or “bubble-up” techniques, there is no implied sequence of meters read in a route. At best, an operator (e.g., a driver or meter reader) is instructed to proceed with a vehicle (or on foot) in a certain direction or area). For example, an operator is instructed to drive certain streets in order. During this process the mobile collector in the vehicle sends out wake up tones and waits for meters to respond or simply listens for broadcasts from bubble up meters. As meters wake up and send their data, the mobile collector grabs the data and posts it against the correct position in the route. At the end of this process, the operator may perform a process to identify any “missed” reads in the area prior to leaving the area or street.
The way this is accomplished may vary, depending on whether the system is capable of point-to-point communications with meters. Identifying missed meter reads in point-to-point systems may involve having the driver identify the street address of the location where the meter has not been read and driving by that location again while the radio is operating. During this process, the radio tries to communicate with any meters in the area by waking them up, as described above.